Trump held court at Pope’s funeral as politics, ritual mixed

VATICAN CITY – St Peter’s Square erupted in applause for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Inside the Basilica, he and US President Donald Trump huddled with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The occasion was the funeral of Pope Francis – but the optics were all about the geopolitics of the moment.

Even the homily, delivered by one of the most senior figures of the Catholic Church, alluded to tensions over US policy on immigration.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re spoke of the late pontiff’s advocacy for refugees and his trip to the US-Mexico border, echoing the famous words of Pope Francis about the need to “build bridges, not walls”.

The Pope first used the phrase in February 2016, when Mr Trump was still a presidential hopeful and starting to make a proposed border wall the cornerstone of his campaign. It would be just the first of many rebukes over the years from a spiritual leader who often aired strong views on the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.

As Cardinal Re spoke, a TV camera zoomed in to capture Mr Trump’s expression, mouth slightly agape. 

In a rejection of tradition, the President donned his signature navy blue suit, sticking out in a sea of black. Blame the seating chart, partially dictated by the French alphabet, but he was sandwiched between the leaders of Estonia and Finland, two strong supporters of Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the US President was in the front row, in recognition of his status.

The funeral mass began at 10am (4pm SGT) on April 26, and, in keeping with Pope Francis’ wishes, was a relatively simple affair by Vatican standards; a blend of sombre reflection and joyful celebration with the crowd cheering for Pope Francis, who had asked for a simple wooden coffin. 

Yet the whole event was much more than a funeral. 

Even before the service began, an unofficial catch-up between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky grabbed headlines. It marked their first meeting since an explosive Oval Office meeting in February.

Mr Trump wants to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and those talks are at a turning point. After their disastrous encounter in Washington, where Mr Zelensky was rebuked on live television, it was Mr Macron and Mr Starmer who flew into Washington to do some remedial diplomacy.

The duo intervened again on April 26, this time inside St Peter’s Basilica, forming a circle with Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump.

Dozens of leaders from around the world gathered for the occasion to pay their last respects to a pope who in his lifetime was divisive – beloved by progressives but disapproved of by many social conservatives. 

But all eyes were on Mr Trump to see who he would greet and who he might snub.

Former US president Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, was seated with wife Jill Biden four or five rows back. He and Mr Trump didn’t appear to speak. 

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who recently visited Mr Trump at the White House, kept more of a low profile. A committed Catholic, she had a personal connection to the Pope, whom she invited to her Group of Seven summit in 2024. 

She also has a bit of a history of getting irritated with Mr Macron for hogging the limelight. His office had made a point of saying the French President wouldn’t be conducting diplomatic meetings at the funeral – but in practice, that’s exactly what he did.

Instead, Ms Meloni opted for lunch after the mass with a like-minded leader, Mr Javier Milei, who once called the Pope a “filthy leftist” but was since forgiven by his fellow Argentine. Pope Francis never returned to his native country after he was elected pope in the 2013 conclave.

It’s rare for this many leaders to find themselves under the same roof – or in this case, dome. Given Mr Trump’s disdain for multilateralism, and with his own presence at the next meeting G-7 in Canada far from certain, it was a chance for access which would yield its share of unscripted moments.

On a warm morning, with attendees sitting in direct sunlight, Finnish President Alexander Stubb at one point appeared to offer Mr Trump his bottle of water. Mr Trump – a known germaphobe – declined. 

Mr Trump himself acknowledged the challenges of conducting business at a funeral.

“It’s a little disrespectful to have meetings when you’re at the funeral of a pope, they say,” Mr Trump told reporters on April 25 on his flight to Rome. “But I’ll be talking to people, I’ll be seeing a lot of people.”

With the European Union caught up in the trade war and getting hammered by tariffs, it was a good time for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to try and get some face time with the president – and she did.

The two hadn’t yet met since Mr Trump returned to power. Camera footage showed them engaged in polite small talk. It was a brief encounter but for VDL – as she’s known – but was a start.

It later transpired that the two agreed during their short exchange to hold formal talks in the future, according to a EU spokesperson. 

Mr Trump’s window was narrow, and it quickly closed. No time for a second meeting with Mr Zelensky. The schedules were too tight, explained a spokesman for the Ukrainian President. 

The presidential motorcade zipped back the airport shortly after the event, and Mr Trump was wheels up by lunch time. High-level conversations continued on the ground for Mr Zelensky; he sat down with Mr Starmer, and then with Ms Meloni. 

From up in the air, though, Mr Trump soon aired his views on Ukraine on Truth Social, including a message to Russia’s leader. 

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Mr Trump said, suggesting that Mr Putin may have been stringing him along by suggesting an intent to stop the war, and that “Secondary Sanctions” may be in order. BLOOMBERG